With jury selection beginning at the federal case against a cult-like US group, TV actress Allison Mack pleaded guilty to charges she manipulated women into becoming sex slaves for the group's spiritual leader. Mack, 36, wept as she admitted her crimes and apologised to the women who prosecutors say were exploited by Keith Raniere and the purported self-help group called NXIVM. "I believed Keith Raniere's intentions were to help people and I was wrong," Mack told a judge in federal court in Brooklyn as she pleaded guilty to racketeering charges. The question of whom jurors would see seated at the defence table that day had remained an open in wake of new allegations that Raniere exploited a teenage girl. KATHY WILLENS/AP Allison Mack, 36, wept as she admitted her crimes and apologised to the women who prosecutors say were exploited by Keith Raniere and the purported self-help group called NXIVM.

Source: Stuff April 08, 2019 20:59 UTC